Catherine O’Connell and Stephen Blackburn Exhibition

Posted on: Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Art in America reviews Jon Manteau exhibition

Posted on: Friday, September 23rd, 2011

PHILADELPHIA

JON MANTEAU

LGTripp Gallery

“To a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail,” a show of recent works by Philadelphia-based artist Jon Manteau (b. 1963), proved that a true graffiti artist never surrenders; he just adds a couple of fine arts degrees to his early obsession with embellishing the world. Known as “Beep” in his teens, Manteau was an active member of three graffiti clubs in Philadelphia. This is his third solo at the gallery.

Manteau’s painted abstract expressions in two and three dimensions reveal a universe in flux, familiar and diverse. Two large panel paintings with attached driftwood, an ink drawing and separate pieces of painted driftwood, both wall-hung and free-standing, filled the first gallery with waves of whirling, dancing color.

Created for the space, Gumtrees and Ghosts (2011, 8’ x 20’ x 5’) was the major work on view. Paint-spattered driftwood tree trunks seemed to secure the plywood panels, covered in loose skeins of house paint, to the wall. Brilliant colors are woven into abstract columns that can be viewed in front of, between and under the driftwood. In the ink-on-paper study Spiders from Mars (2010, 40” x 60”), vertical brushstrokes create a sense of volume and light across a distant sky. Another painting on panel with driftwood inclusions, titled He Must Be Gay, (2010), expresses a sensitive, inclusive mood. The gnarled driftwood branches and trunks on the walls and floor throughout the gallery were collected by Manteau along the banks of rivers in Philadelphia.

In a smaller room, one wall was lined with detritus from the artist’s studio; paint-saturated trays, shoes, paint cans, lids and brushes formed a colorful three-dimensional composition. This lively installation found a meditative counterpoint in nine small abstract works on paper (2009-2011). Each has its own palette and a unique composition, but together they merged into a harmonious unit.

The 8-foot square Nobel Inventor of Dynamite (2010) is also made of house paint on plywood, sans driftwood inclusions. A tactile surface emerges from the multiple layers of paint. The network of brushstrokes creates varied visual depths united by rhythmic white passages. This painting seems to contain the seeds of all the others.

From his graffiti-fixated youth, Manteau has evolved into an artist whose dynamic abstract paintings and installations infuse their environs with vitality.

– Anne Fabbri
SEPTEMBER ’11 ART IN AMERICA

Duo Exhibition: Catherine O’Connell — New Paintings, Stephen Blackburn — Recent Work

Posted on: Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

Catherine O'Connel — New Paintings

Catherine O’Connell

New Paintings

Stephen Blackburn — Recent Work

Stephen Blackburn

Recent Work

CATHERINE O’CONNELL — New Paintings
STEPHEN BLACKBURN — Recent Work

September 9 – October 15, 2011
Artist Reception – Saturday, September 17, 2011, 5 – 7:00 pm
First Friday – October 7, 6 – 8:30 pm

LGTripp Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works by gallery artists Catherine O’Connell and Stephen Blackburn. Through the combination and interaction of shapes and colors, the artists explore how these two elements can be utilized, one in sculpture and one in painting.

There are two types of space – positive space and negative space. The negative space, or the empty space, is at the root of Catherine O’Connell’s new body of work. Drawing from real life spaces, she manipulates colors and shapes to define and understand the absence and presence of “space” in every day life. The works have a voyeuristic perception as swatches of color compose flashes of memories. Reduced down to color and line, the works are an expression of the artist’s uncertain reality.

Catherine O’Connell earned her MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010 and BFA, in painting and drawing, at Pennsylvania State University in 2005. She was the recipient of the Margaret Giffen Schoenfelder Memorial Award for excellence in painting. Originally from the Philadelphia area, O’Connell now resides in Baltimore, MD.

Three-dimensional constructions, Stephen Blackburn’s sculptures are the sum of smaller parts, melding found objects and welded steel, each added to further evoke a whimsical and light emotion. Some works may suggest a recognizable form or creature, but overall the simple geometric shapes of the sculptures, highlighted with splashes of color, amuse and intrigue. Emphasizing design over fit and finish, Blackburn’s focus is on shape and form.

Stephen Blackburn attended The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for one year in 1969, returned twenty-five years later and graduated in May 2001. At that time he was awarded the Fellowship Trust Prize and became the first recipient of the Women’s Board Prize. Blackburn’s sculptures have been exhibited at LGTripp Gallery, Chester County Art Association, Immaculata University Art Show and Gallery Siano. Stephen Blackburn grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, where he still lives today.